Obama Admin ‘Misinformed Congress, Public On Immigrant Release’ | Some Released ‘Faced Serious Criminal Charges’

According to USA Today, “New records contradict the Obama administration's assurances to Congress and the public that the 2,200 people it freed from immigration jails last year to save money had only minor criminal records.

“The records, obtained by USA TODAY, show immigration officials released some undocumented immigrants who had faced far more serious criminal charges, including people charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, drug trafficking and homicide.

“The release sparked a furor in Congress. Republican lawmakers accused the Obama administration of setting dangerous criminals free. In response, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it had released ‘low-risk offenders who do not have serious criminal records,’ a claim the administration repeated to the public and to members of Congress. . . .

“The new records, including spreadsheets and hundreds of pages of e-mails, offer the most detailed information yet about the people ICE freed as it prepared for steep, across-the-government spending cuts in February 2013. They show that although two-thirds of the people who were freed had no criminal records, several had been arrested or convicted on charges more severe than the administration had disclosed. . . .

“Lawmakers expressed concern. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it is ‘deeply troubling that ICE would knowingly release thousands of undocumented immigrant detainees – many with prior criminal records – into our streets, while publicly downplaying the danger they posed.’ . . .

“A spreadsheet ICE officials prepared listing the detainees includes one person in Texas charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexually assaulting a child, as well as others charged with armed assaults or assaulting police officers. Another immigrant released from Miami had been charged with conspiracy to commit homicide. Two detainees from Boston had been charged with aggravated assault using a weapon. One in Denver had a sexual assault charge. The agency released the spreadsheet to USA TODAY under the Freedom of Information Act.

“ICE's records do not indicate whether the detainees were convicted of those crimes or merely charged with them. The agency said it would not release information identifying any of the detainees because doing so would invade their privacy, so it was impossible to examine the details of their cases.”  Yes, privacy for serious and even criminal illegals.

USA Today reminds readers what the Obama administration said at the time it was asked about these releases. “In hearings last year, Republican lawmakers pressed then-ICE Director John Morton for specifics on the criminal records of the people the agency had freed. At one, Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., asked Morton directly, ‘No one on that list has been charged or convicted with murder, rape or sexual abuse of a minor, were they?’

“Morton answered, ‘They were not.’

“He told lawmakers that, to his knowledge, none had faced child pornography charges.

“White House spokesman Jay Carney similarly described them as ‘low-risk, non-criminal detainees.’ . . .

“Morton, who resigned last year, told Congress that the more than 2,200 immigrants ICE released included 629 people with criminal records, all of them people who had been charged with misdemeanors ‘or other criminals whose prior conviction did not pose a violent threat to public safety.’”

The story notes, “Homeland Security officials have acknowledged that ICE handled the detainee release badly.” That seems to be a common refrain with the Obama administration.

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